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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26012503">Hair Tufts</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrible_woman/pseuds/terrible_woman'>terrible_woman</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Hair, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, catradora, i've been questioning since the finale aired and it's a lot WISH ME LUCK LESBIANS, sapphic hair braiding, soft, the dumb jock chops her own hair, to distract the cat gf from her Unresolved Emotional Pain™</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:07:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,715</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26012503</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/terrible_woman/pseuds/terrible_woman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Catra's been cutting off her grey hair tufts since somewhere in the war. Adora doesn't know why, but she can see it weighs on her painfully.<br/>She decides to make Catra feel better with a distraction. And scissors.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adora/Catra (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>153</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Hair Tufts</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catra’s fingers fiddled with the ornate scissors in her hand as she inspected the bottom of her ears- thick, grey little nubs just peeking out from her short, wild hair. A squirming hesitation was on her face, the tips of her fingers twitching.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Adora?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora was on their bed, starfishing after a morning-long She-Ra errand that had rendered her sweaty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mmhmm?” Adora hummed contently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Could you… could you trim my tufts for me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora sat up- the little uncertain waver in Catra’s voice noticeably un-Catra. She hadn’t seemed much herself today, her silhouette curling in on itself at the ostentatious vanity mirror. Catra had taken to snipping at her ears regularly- taking off her grey ear tufts she once grew so thick and prominent, long strips minutely bouncing when she cackled. Adora didn’t know why she suddenly took to removing them somewhere during the war, but with their door firmly closed, Catra hinted at the wound she nursed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You trust me with scissors?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not really,” she hollowly laughed, “but, I want you to do it. I think.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The usual quipping smirk was absent, the joking tone deflated. Adora sat up and found Catra’s eyes in the mirror, giving her a gentle smile and patting in front of her on the bed. Catra came over, holding her elbow with a slight timidness.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s hair looked nice today. Its growth had snuck up on them as it expanded like a glacial mass- Adora having woken up and lost her jaw in it one morning, its body doubled since the rescue. It was approaching shoulder length; sticky-uppy and wild; and the front started to collect into the thick, jagged pieces that hung over her eyes when they were young- that would part in different directions, and threaten her vision when they sparred, before Catra started pushing them back with that mask.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sat in front of Adora with her trademark position of feet-together, knees-as-apart-as-possible; but she wasn’t hunched over, like when she was brewing some anger or hiding something. Just upright, a bit limp, a bit somber.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The thick grey nubs were poking out from just behind her velvety ears, no longer hidden by her rufflably short hair. Adora pulled back a handful of the mane to inspect one side, and the scar on the back of Catra’s neck leered up at her- the skin having closed in a twisted, thumb-sized knot, tightly pulling the specs where fur hadn’t grown back. Somewhere under there, a couple cut-off wires were still coiled around Catra’s central nerves, too dangerously, irrevocably fused to attempt extraction.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra tensed her drawn-in elbows as she waited for Adora’s fingers to peel through her layers, and hesitantly pinch the thick roots with more concentration than Catra wanted paid to her head. She’d loathed that as a kid- her hair she’d grown free into an impenetrable hedge, violently raked through by officers whenever they reflexively blamed her for the newest head-lice outbreak, telling her to shut up as she held back choked sobs and prickling tears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra exhaled another rattling breath, feeling uncomfortably raw, waiting for the thin, cold metal to brush by her sensitive ears.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>SNI-I-ip.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s ears shot up. That was a thick snip, and it was </span>
  <em>
    <span>nowhere </span>
  </em>
  <span>near her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora what-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra turned around, and her eyes shot wide. On Adora’s face grew a familiar smug expression. She held the scissors to the side of her own head, hovering by a large sect of blonde pulled tactlessly from her, now warped, ponytail. That portion poofed out sideways... less than 3 inches long. From Adora’s opposite fist drooped a cut-off chunk of long blonde hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Feel better?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora- wh-</span>
  <em>
    <span>what?</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bright, mismatched eyes ricocheted about the sight like pinballs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my God.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s eye went to her fist, her eyebrows going up as her face went innocently vacant. “Wow I took off a lot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora WHY?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora considered for a moment. “...You said you were carrying the fashion risks in this relationship?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s jaw was agape as she stared, dumbfounded, at her girlfriend. She waved a hand between Adora’s head &amp; hand to see if a hologram flickered, ignoring the amused look in Adora’s eye. When it didn’t, she felt the bluntly chopped hair sticking out the side of her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A- ah- wh-” Catra baffledly stammered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s thumb felt through her detached chunk of hair, her mouth in a small line.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Huh, I’m due for a shower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m getting Bow,” Catra declared, scrambling off the bed, having no idea what protocol was called for. Adora rotated to plant her feet on the floor.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra wait-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m getTING BOW,” she increased shrilly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra </span>
  <em>
    <span>WAIT</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“WHAT?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora swiftly pulled Catra down by the shoulder onto her lap. Catra’s hair was parted from her ear and her tufts were snipped before she could register the scissors near her head- her brain short-circuiting when Adora immediately finished with a cheeky peck on her neck. Catra spun out of her gentle touch towards the door, laughing in disbelief.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“THIS WAS NOT NECESSARY!” Catra yelled, laughing, leaving the door ajar when she shot out, bounding on all fours through the palace. Adora weighed the scissors in her hand, satisfied.</span>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Ten minutes later, Catra returned to the room with Bow, dragging him by the centre of his shirt with a militaristic march- the archer silent as he’d likely run out of protests halfway up the stairs. Catra stopped and jabbed a hand towards Adora on the bed in presentation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do we fix the idiot.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora sat cross-legged and simple on the bed, giving a little wave.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hi, Bow.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra wha-” Bow halted. He stepped forward to feel the short hair that poofed from Adora’s side, “Adora what happened?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“SHE CUT HER HAIR,” Catra pointed in a jerky tableau, her tail fraying out. Bow observed Catra’s dramatic posture, and then Adora gently rocking back and forth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I can’t believe you two saved the universe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What should we do?” Catra bewildered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I could get you, like- you have scissors- clippers? Maybe? If you want?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is that what Lonnie does?” Adora asked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra slow-blinked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Adora has this all been a Lonnie hair-envy long con?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Who’s to say?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Has this been a Scorpia hair-envy long con?” Catra brought up a set of fingers to count off.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora has this been a Netossa hair-envy-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra, I was in a meeting so I really can’t stay. If you want clippers you can borrow mine from our room.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay, uh, that’d be good,” Catra replied. Adora elbowed her in the thigh. “Sorry for pulling you out your meeting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bow good-naturedly chuckled, “It’ll make them laugh.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Right as Bow left the sights of their door frame, Catra called out suddenly-</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t tell Glimmer!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You feel better about </span>
  <em>
    <span>your </span>
  </em>
  <span>hair now?” Adora eyed smugly as Catra reentered their room, hands foreignly examining a small set of clippers. Adora put a hand up to Catra’s mentioned hair, expecting the following swat away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re such an idiot,” Catra tittered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What do we do?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looks over the rest of Adora’s long, ponytail-able hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I guess I’m shaving it off? Just the side, I mean.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Cool.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You really don't care?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora considered for a moment, running a hand through the short floof that hung from the side of her head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nope. So long as I can tie it back. It’s also hot, I guess.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra eyed Adora, baring a fang in an ‘are you sure what you meant there’ smirk. Adora flustered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like TEMPERATURE, oh my God.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra chuckled as she kneeled on the bed beside Adora. “Alright then. Tilt here, blondie.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra seized Adora’s face in the crook of her elbow as her hand peeled back the body of the drooping ponytail, her other hand wielding the scissors and snipping off disarrayed 3 inch locks to better arrange her terrain, the fallout unceremoniously falling to their thighs. She put down the scissors and went to more diligently tackle Adora’s head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora withheld a little sigh as she found she enjoyed Catra’s angular hands gracing about her head- currently taking out and redoing her ponytail, parting the long mass away from the shortened side, critical eyes surveying how to carve an acceptable shape from Adora’s spontaneous cut. Catra’s oddly quiet concentration made Adora smile with the attention- until she felt her bangs start falling into her face. Catra had ponytailed hair poof-less.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora blew the offending hair out of her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why even keep the bangs if you don’t actually want them?” Catra asked, bringing a finger to settle them back on Adora’s forehead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“They’re in the waaaaay.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora, I don’t think your perfectionism needs to run </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>tight a ship.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora huffed. She arched an eyebrow as she thought of another option.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Is it too late for me to just pin the short hair back into a </span>
  <em>
    <span>second </span>
  </em>
  <span>poof?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If Catra was drinking water, she would have spluttered with coughs. She exhaled a haunted breath as she felt the choppy surface.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.” Catra affirmed, grabbing some fallen locks around Adora’s thigh and throwing them up for emphasis. “Thank the stars it’s too late for that, you </span>
  <em>
    <span>sociopath</span>
  </em>
  <span>."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At that, Catra let the clippers buzz to life and experimentally dragged it up the middle on a small guard- a strip of hair falling onto Adora’s shirt and most certainly scattering about Catra’s crossed legs. Catra’s finger dragged over the short, exposed hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your scalp is SOO pale,” Catra awed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Says YO...ouuu know I have no comeback for that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra let out a peeling cackle as she began more confidently shaving hair away.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My skin under here is dark and divine,” she proudly declared as she extended an arm to shake blonde from the whirring clippers. Much of it quickly caught on her furred forearm while the rest drifted down to scatter on Adora’s back and the sheets- a problem for future Catra and Adora.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora felt the grip on her head gently firm as Catra’s concentration upped. She was about to guess what cute face Catra was unintentionally pulling- until her brow furrowed, analysing the movement for a minute. Her brow creased with realisation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you shaving </span>
  <em>
    <span>words </span>
  </em>
  <span>into me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra paused for a beat and momentarily turned off the clippers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What gave me away?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I recognise your handwriting.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A smile bubbled on Catra’s face and she thumbed Adora’s jaw in defeat. “Dammit.” She turned the clippers back on a moment for two quick, final strokes. She climbed off the bed and retrieved a smaller mirror from the vanity’s drawers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra held up the mirror, Adora eyeing her reflection as she tilted her head- her blonde not immediately easy to decipher. But after a moment, it was blatantly apparent.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Into her scalp, perfectly readable in her reflection, Catra had shaved the word ‘DUMMY’.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you write it backwards JUST to insult me in the mirror?” Adora almost spluttered, feeling the even, bristling letters amongst her haphazardly snipped hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It would sound meaner coming from me,” Catra said fondly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, it never does,” Adora eyed her affectionately.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smiled at her, bringing a hand up to Adora’s face. Adora was about to lean into it when Catra moved it again, hinging perpendicular to her temple and walling off her ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra blew directly into Adora’s ear and around her scalp, making Adora flinch with the urge to flail.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Any in your eye?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora snorted, “Nope.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Good,” Catra plonked back onto the bed, little discarded bristles bouncing back up, covering them both again. “Now gimme that scalp.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a while of Catra seemingly shaving ‘DUMMY’ away, Adora’s fidgety restlessness started to tremor in as Catra focused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Why are you so sloow?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m tryna make you presentable, dummy. You like being up to code,” Catra quickly uttered as she carefully carved the top line of the shearing, taking off more long hair in the name of cleaning up- the long pieces hung over, still held in the ponytail. Catra snapped them out at the hair-tie.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Aaaw, no hair in the eye AND you want me to look nice? I’m starting to think you </span>
  <em>
    <span>like </span>
  </em>
  <span>me,” Adora noticed some long strands float down and curl over her shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The buzz of the clippers continued on for a beat. Catra turned her face away from Adora’s peripheral. A suddenly quiet, confessing little voice floated into her ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yeah, I... I do like you.</span>
  </em>
  <span>..”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s eyes went wide and her face went crimson.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra let out a peeling guffaw to the high ceiling as she returned the clippers to Adora’s head, watching her girlfriend blush.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, finally, I am SO using that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora scoffed as the overwhelmed heat of her face refused to cool. She flapped her arm around to slap Catra’s thigh. It only increased Catra’s squawk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, you clearly don’t like </span>
  <em>
    <span>me</span>
  </em>
  <span> much if you’ve taken off a quarter of playable hair,” Catra defensively chided.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“There’s still plenty.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, you’re definitely balding. That hair poof’s been getting thinner.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I tell you not to ponytail it so much- you’ll lose your hairline before you’re thirty, forehead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It won’t go back any other way.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span>-” Catra playfully poked Adora’s temple, “just still don’t know how to braid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“HOW IS ANYONE that coordinated behind their head?” Adora gestured with a cute frustration.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I could figure it out, for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. It’d be pretty,” Catra said simply- without a lace of double-crossing vengeance. Adora processed Catra’s small utterance of sincerity, and laughed with her mouth closed. “What?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so precious.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora,” the blonde could feel a small glare.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You loooove me,” she cooed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fine I won’t braid it,” Catra retracted her hold of Adora’s head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait no I take it back.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra put on the vulnerable voice again, “</span>
  <em>
    <span>You think I don’t love you?”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“NO WAIT-” Catra patted a pile of blonde off Adora’s shoulder, smirking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You know it wouldn't kill you to wear your hair down sometimes,” Catra remarked. Adora’s eyebrows knitted together with a thought. “Also you’ve been using one hair tie for like five years, lay that poor bastard to REST.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’d say that back when your hair was longer, too.” Adora pondered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What, about your hair being down?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“My opinions are correct and timeless.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Did you want me to match you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Adora, even I was not </span>
  <em>
    <span>that </span>
  </em>
  <span>clingy-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Well</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p><span>Catra poked her cheek. “It would just be nice,” she went on, flicking the make-shift ponytail. “Your hair’s soft. And</span> <span>your neck’s ugly.”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>Adora snickered. “I always thought you’d look nice with my ponytail.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Oh but </span>
  <em>
    <span>I’m </span>
  </em>
  <span>the one who wants to match?? You... </span>
  <em>
    <span>projector.”</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>‘Projector’? <em>Maybe</em> Perfuma’s doing? Or was Catra going to build an arsenal of psychological terms for conversational kicks? Adora bet the latter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a while of more clean-up, and more fine little hairs firmly sticking to Adora’s thigh, impossible for her to irritably smoothe off, Adora asked, “How did you drag Bow out of his meeting?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra blew little hairs from Adora’s ear as she shaved behind it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Guess,” she smirked with mirth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Drag by the ear?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No-pe. Fireman carry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adore snorted. “Glimmer didn’t stop you?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>The Queen</span>
  </em>
  <span> found it funny,” Catra regally mimicked. Adora took a moment to put together a quip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wow, you’re really gonna snag that Court Jester position.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra took an equal moment to register that terribly un-Horde term. She slow-blinked at the blonde.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re literally the infant who literally cut her own hair off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That first one is not how you use ‘literally’.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. I’m shocked you can pronounce literally.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Rude.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Lighter-alley</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” Catra snootily mimicked again, making Adora scrunch her nose. Catra shut off the clippers with a finality and patted the side. “I’m done. And I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>adopting a hair poof.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m still not hearing a no on your future ponytail.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Lemme rock a mullet first, babe.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora got up, immediately shaking out her jacket and flapping at her covered neck- the hair drifting in the air with dust particles, glinting pale gold. On halting, she found the crevices of the collar still stuffed with bristles. Adora blew her bangs, suddenly feeling even more finely chopped remnants stuck to her face, some now teetering on her eyelashes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think I’ll go shower.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra didn’t look very intently at her, rather distractedly just noting she’d done a good clean-up job- “dummy” was gone and her hair certainly looked even, the new sidecut showing a bit under the hair as Adora took out Catra’s offensive ponytail, earlier cut strands gravitating from the hair-tie. She was mainly distracted brushing Adora’s blonde off herself, little gold dashes caught in bear traps under her fur.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Looks presentable,” she said with an impatient swipe over her arm, “I’m gonna grab some food before my meeting with Sparkles.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The kitchen told you-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I promise I’m not stealing from the pantry.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m proud of youuu,” Adora cooed as Catra walked out, about to shake off a microscopic trail of hay-coloured tallies throughout the palace.</span>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra was out for a few hours for her own meeting with Glimmer, discussing potential positions she could fill for Brightmoon (as well as her reparational work already rebuilding parts of Etheria). Defence Strategist, Advisory posts, Ambassador positions- jobs that would suit her gifts of evaluatively peering over tables of information; or sitting in corners, correcting everyone else in the room; or smooth-talking important figures while wearing immaculate formalwear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She returned a good while later, jokes about her conversation with the Queen on the tip of her tongue as she playfully pattered down staircases and mosey’d the corridors back to her &amp; Adora’s room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey Adora, you still he-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her eye instantly caught the pile of hair neatly dusted by the door. Her gaze rose to see Adora at her recently moved-in cartography table, flicking through annotated maps and documents, wearing clean shorts and shirt.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her hair- it was air-dried and not brushed yet, falling freshly disarrayed about her shoulders. Her bangs made their rare appearance over her forehead, having dried rough and ruffled. The loose body of blonde reflected the soft, comfortable afternoon daylight falling through the archway behind her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>And she sat leaning her head on her hand, idly pushing hair back from her face, revealing...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The sidecut.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra was hit by a train.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora,” Catra spoke up, unmoving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey, Catra,” she said over her shoulder with little mind.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How was the meeting?” she asked, eyes still on the desk.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It was good Adora-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ooooh, good how? Glimmer offer you anythi-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora this is the best stupid decision you have ever made,” Catra rushed. A giddy spark of wit lit in Adora’s eye, and she put down her pencil.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know you are, babe,” she proudly smirked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“ADORA YOU LOOK SO HOT WHAT THE HELL.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s little act of cockiness dropped, her eyes gaping and turning to Catra, who was stuck in place with a vibrating awe on her face. Adora’s mouth pursed in an overwhelmed little line.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You… think so?” she asked, shyly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“YES why didn’t we do this before??” Catra approached on a mission, “Even just-” Catra held Adora’s shoulders and dramatically kissed her sidecut, the shaven hair blunt against her lips. She examined the rest of her in an enamoured frenzy, “even the BANGS and your HAIR DOWN you look so COOL.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Several instinctively unintelligent responses stuck in Adora’s throat as Catra buzzed around her. Adora had of course looked after her shower- namely satisfied with Catra’s presentable handiwork, her normal hangups about her hair for once dormant in its damp, non-negotiable state. But this enthusiasm that bewitched Catra, making her heft her arms under Adora’s and hoist her in the direction of their room’s unused vanity- this was a different, blooming beast entirely.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora we’re burning your jacket, </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>is the Horde thing you can carry around now,” Catra briskly asserted.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like that jacket-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Pointy shoulders are OUT this is IN.” Catra thrusted Adora down onto the seat and pointed urgently to her hair. Adora looked over herself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Oh. </span>
  <em>
    <span>OH. </span>
  </em>
  <span>She looked… </span>
  <em>
    <span>badass.</span>
  </em>
  <span> A little smile nervously wiggled onto her face as her fingers lightly examined the surface, taking in Catra’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>enchanted</span>
  </em>
  <span> expression in the mirror. Catra caught Adora’s expression and softened her demeanour.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you like it?” Catra calmed a little, hands on Adora’s shoulders. “Is it comfy?” Adora’s cheeks felt warm.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah. It feels… cooler.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra raised an eyebrow at her, smiling knowingly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like TEMPERATURE,” Adora defended with a breathy, losing laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh huh,” she smirked, biting the inside of her cheeks and exhaling her own laugh through her nose, a giddiness dancing in her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s cheeks went a full, nervous pink at this attention, having to avert their eye contact for a few moments lest the feeling fluttering in her gut float her to the ceiling. She considered something. Her knees locked together, and she spoke with a soft, nervous hopefulness, meeting Catra’s eyes again in the mirror.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Could you braid my hair like you said?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>An endearing honour washed over Catra’s expression. She responded in that wondrous, golden, little voice; that shimmered in memories of hushed secrets in their childhood barracks.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...</span>
  <em>
    <span>Yes, please</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p><hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Adora plonked back on the bed where Catra tried to refamiliarise herself with braiding Adora’s hair- an endeavour they’d temporarily explored as emerging teens. Adora after a while gave up on the prospect, as the perfect soldier’s arms always got too tired.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Glimmer’s gonna be so annoyed we did this without her,” Adora realised, feeling a thumb over the shaved side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my God it looks even better pulled back,” Catra aired distractedly, sectioning Adora’s hair.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Validation tempted Adora’s cheeks to darken again. “Like SO annoyed,” she peripherally eyed Catra’s hands weaving atop her scalp.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Queens can like. Will she cast us into exile?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think she’ll spare us if she gets to do </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> hair,” Adora mused.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“…That sounds like torture,” Catra deadpanned.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your hair will catch up to hers at some point, it’s gonna happen.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shave my head right now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“She’s not bad.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra figured out a step and concluded a simple practise braid with a proud flourish. Adora didn’t notice how quickly she’d managed that as Catra undid it again. </span>
  <span>“We don’t exactly have compatible aesthetics.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What if we cut her a Boob Window?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra almost spat in Adora’s hair with the laugh she cracked.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only <em>I</em> can pull that off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wrong, you just copied Scorpia.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only Scorpia can pull that off.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora wanted to note Catra’s back cutouts- but couldn’t think how to articulate it into anything remotely witty, or coherent, or un-bumbling.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Your hair at least would make, like, a good bargaining chip.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gripped Adora’s sorted sections of hair between her fingers, and arched an eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t know what schemes you’re concocting against Queen Sparkles, but I am never cashing that in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Riiiight.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nah, just. I couldn’t. No one else, yet.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s eyes went up on the ‘yet’.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just me touch it?” Adora asked gently.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just you, for now.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...Same, I thi- same.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s activity paused again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora thought for a moment, and did a small nod to herself, her fingers feeling the satisfyingly crisp line atop her side, as straight and orderly as she could want.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, just you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A proud little warmth flickered in Catra’s chest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora felt a stray lock behind her leave Catra’s grasp, and stubbornly brought it back up to her hand. Catra chuckled.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Or not” Catra said, taking it back, keeping track of the arrangement of hair. Catra’s eyes flicked to Adora’s jacket on her nearby desk chair, cleanly draping on the back with perfect symmetry.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She let go of the hair and let it unravel down Adora’s back- confident she’d figured it out enough anyway. She wouldn’t reveal to Adora that she’d been… </span>
  <em>
    <span>not </span>
  </em>
  <span>obsessively surveying passerbys’ braids in Brightmoon for weeks. Or that she fiddled with string sometimes when she brooded on the roof. She lowered her volume and wrapped her arms around Adora, resting her chin on her shoulder. She gently pulled Adora’s bangs up into the poof shape.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...You’re uncomfortable out of uniform, huh?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s mouth twisted in awkward acknowledgement, her eyes shifting down as she reflexively squirmed a little, compartmentalising that point away before the discomfort could settle in her stomach.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With Catra’s comforting arms around her, a new thought took over. Her eyes crinkled with an escaping smile instead.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What?” Catra sensed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I just pictured someone like Perfuma playing with your hair.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra retracted her arms. “Oh my God.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fill it with flowers,” Adora turned to her, teasingly- forgetting to mind the bangs falling back over her face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra wished she could sound more annoyed than she was. “You are on thin ice, forehead.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No I’m not, you’d look nice with flowers and you know it.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora snickered when Catra breathed </span>
  <em>
    <span>‘...Yeah, probably’</span>
  </em>
  <span> to herself, focusing her critical eyes on Adora’s hair, promising herself she’d nail it. Her diligent hands went to work, determined to make Adora stutter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They sat quietly for a long while, Catra’s focus boring into the back of Adora’s head, Adora tentatively enjoying the feeling of her hair being touched while her own fingers fidgeted. At one point she lingered on her bangs, pushing them up reflexively. Catra’s hand entered and brought her hand down with a little squeeze, and simply parted the fringe away from her vision. Adora touched her sidecut instead. Finally, she felt Catra retract for a few moments, only hearing her excitedly inhale.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s arm stretched over her shoulder, extending the hand mirror for her again. Adora turned her head to see Catra’s efforts. Her eyes went wide at the unexpectedly winding, overlapping locks- little, equal pieces brought and incorporated from each height of her head in some familiar method she couldn’t officially name. Her shaved side on full display; her ruffled, blonde bangs kissing the edge of her strong, dark brows. It wasn’t perfect, and they probably should’ve gone through it with a brush instead of Catra’s fingers, and it didn’t look like it would hold for long. But it was cool, and kinda relaxed, and scrappy. Like Catra.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora why didn’t we do this sooner, you look so GOO-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora simply stared with an overwhelmed little line in place of her lips. Catra’s praise muffled in her ears as her slightly differed reflection made her head whirl- and anywhere else the act of this might have felt excruciating. But Catra was here, so close, on their bed. Even with her foreign fringe hanging down- she felt comfortable.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I like it,” Adora interrupted Catra’s cute ramblings with a small smile. “Would it be a weird question... for me to ask you to, like, do this-“</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh I’m playing with your hair all the time now you look so GOOD.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just in here, though?” Adora asked uncertainly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah? Only me… see it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“… Yeah?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They felt the internal, ancient vault of their shared little secrets crack open once more, welcoming a shiny new arrival, and Catra felt her cheeks darken. She played with the end of the braid that Adora only wanted her to see- and that cherished feeling of being special, and chosen, fluttered about her chest. Adora turned and brought a hand to just behind one of Catra’s ears, settling the hair down- she smiled fondly as Catra leaned into the touch, soothed. Catra looked at Adora’s sidecut. She felt lighter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even better.” Catra wrapped her arms around Adora again. “Thanks for trimming my tufts.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora’s response was to give her a cheesy, forceful kiss on the cheek. The movement made part of the slightly unstable braid come out and unravel slightly, some spilling over Adora’s shaved side. It was okay- they could just do it again. They kissed sweetly at that.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After a moment, they broke away- Catra gazing at Adora with lovey, half-lidded eyes. Adora’s eyes returned them, before drifting into space just slightly, and airing a thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“…I just realised we could have just sheared off everything else and made it all short.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra tittered, and was about to comment on Adora’s impulsivity today, until...</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra scoffed with realisation, and her hand reached for a thwack-with-able pillow, shrunken pupils locking on her dopey, blonde target.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh my God, Adora you </span>
  <em>
    <span>DO </span>
  </em>
  <span>want us to match!!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>a couple that hair-angsts together stays together.<br/>This dumb jock + fashionable cat have infinite post-canon 'hurt/comfort' potential I'm gonna be lurking on this site for their shenanigans into my sixties.</p>
<p>This is my first fic I've ever finished and/or posted, I hope you like it~</p></blockquote></div></div>
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